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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1991)
lVT OTA7 C F) | Q" ^ C|* Associated Press 1 lVTV^ JL^ JL ClVljl Edited by Eric Pfanner Middle East parties fail to RSVP on talks WASHINGTON — The Bush administra tion’s Mideast strategy was put to a test Mon day as the three key parties — Israel, Syria and the Palestinians Arabs — let the deadline de scend without accepting invitations for a re sumption of peace talks. Secretary of State James Baker found him self in an uncomfortable disagreement with Israeli officials on the way the invitations were issued to hold the talks in Washington begin ning Dec. 4. Only Jordan and Lebanon have notified the State Department they intend to participate in the negotiations. Department spokeswoman Margaret Tut wiler signaled Baker’s willingness to postpone the Monday deadline. “What I think we’re all losing sight of,” she said, “is what really should be the real issue. It should not, in my personal opinion, be a haggle over a site or timing. “What is so important to these parties, to the process, is to get these bilateral talks going. And that is what is somehow getting lost here in some of this traffic,” she said. The negotiations, cosponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union, have been in recess for three weeks amid disagreement be tween Israel and the Arabs on where and when to proceed. Baker, after meeting Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, instructed U.S. embassies in the Middle East to inform govern ment leaders the negotiations should be re sumed in Washington on Dec. 4. Jordan instantly agreed, and Lebanon fol lowed suit, but persistent U.S. efforts to get the others to go along did not succeed. Even as Baker sent instructions to U.S. embassies, Shamir was still insisting on hold ing the negotiations in the Middle East. He took his appeal Friday to President Bush at the White House, but by then the invitations had gone out and the deadline for accepting had been set. Israeli officials, speaking mostly in private, suggested that the prime minister had been treated rudely, though Shamir tried to play down the dispute. “There is no crisis of confidence, not per sonal and not any kind,” he said upon his return to Israel on Sunday. Syria held back its reply amid reports it would insist as a precondition that Israel agree to consider in the negotiations a withdrawal from the Golan Heights, the disputed territory Israeli forces occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War. Spokeswoman Tulwiler said “myself and others here are puzzled” by accusations of mistreatment from Israeli officials. She said that while Washington was not the first choice of any of the parties, holding the talks in the capital had been discussed over several months with Israeli officials. Tutwiler said Baker waited a week longer than originally planned in selecting a time and place after the Arabs and Israel were.unable to decide on their own. Nuclear aid OK’d for Soviets $500 million approved to dismantle arsenal WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Monday to spend up to S500 million to help the Soviet Union dismantle its nuclear arsenal rather than risk letting it fall into the hands of terrorists or Third World dictators. The 86 to 8 vote came after several Democratic senators de clared a political truce on the issue, promising not to criticize Presi dent Bush if he goes ahead with the aid. The Senate also voted, 90 to 4, to approve a treaty setting strict ceilings on conventional weapons in Europe. Despite claims that it is out dated, Majority Leader George Mitchell said the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty “remains an important benchmark and build ing block for ensuring the future security of the European continent.” As Congress hurried to adjourn by Thanksgiving: • House Democrats were poised to seek a floor vote on a compro mise crime bill that President Bush said was “simply not acceptable.” Republicans threatened to filibus ter the legislation in the Senate, saying the bill was too soft on crime. • House and Senate negotiators completed work on major sections of a S151 billion highway measure hailed as capable of putting some 2 million Americans to work. The tax-writing committees had yet to approve a four-year extension of a 2.5 cent-a-gallon gasoline tax, necessary to pay for much of the bill. Crime bill Major provisions of the anti-crime package approved by House and Senate negotiators. DEATH PENALTY Capital punishment for murder of federal officials ranging from egg and poultry inspectors to the president. It would also apply to espionage, treason and terrorist acts resulting in death. Drug kingpins could also be executed. GUN CONTROL Five-day waiting period for handgun purchases It also sets up a program so that "instant checks" can eventually be conducted by gun dealers hooked up to centralized computers. HABEAS CORPUS Restricts appeals that state prisoners can file in federal court. Inmates allowed one habeas corpus petition, successive filings limited to claims that a sentence was invalid, or when there is new evidence, it would repeal a 1989 Supreme Court decision that generally bars state prisoners frorr benefiting from high court rulings on criminal law that were issued after their convictions. ■ EXCLUSIONARY RULE Would allow introduction ot improperly seized evidence in federal court cases if police acted in good faith while executing a search warrant. DRUG TREATMENT Earmarks money for states to provide residential drug treatment for prisoners. Requires drug testing and treatment of federal prison inmates. Sets up 10 regional drug prisons that would be run by the federal government for both state and federal offenders. TOUGHER PENALTIES Triples the penalty for drug crimes that involve minors. It also provides tougher penalties for selling drugs in public housing, near truck stops and in other drug-free zones. The measure increases sentences for crimes with assault weapons, explosives, stealing firearms and smuggling arms. ENFORCEMENT AID The bill provides aid to states and cities to put more police on street patrols, improve police training and juvenile offender programs. It desig i nates drug emergency areas that can qualify for increased federal aid and law enforcement assistance to combat drug trafficking. • Congressional tax commit tees attempted a last-ditch effort to extend 12 targeted tax breaks sched uled to expire Dec. 31. There is strong support among lawmakers of both parties for extending the provisions in a time of economic AP slump. On Soviet aid, debate revolved around whether helping dismantle the former adversary’s nuclear weapons was urgent enough , to warrant U.S. taxpayers picking up part of the tab. Gorbachev set back in bid to save union Republics send treaty to legislatures MOSCOW -T- President Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday suffered a serious setback in his bid to hold the nation together when the leaders of seven republics refused to endorse a treaty to create a new political union. Instead of initialing the Union Treaty as planned, the leaders de cided to send it to the legislatures of their republics for consideration, a weary Gorbachev said after a four I hour meeting. He warned again that fame was running out for holding the nation together as a looser confederation, with most powers moving from the Kremlin to the republics. He said economic, ethnic and other problems cannot be addressed until the union question is settled. The powerful Ukraine stayed away from Monday’s meeting. The leader of Azerbaijan also did not attend because of escalating tensions with neighboring Armenia, and Gorbachev said Armenia and Azerbaijan were verging on war in their ethnic dispute. Members of the State Council reportedly clashed sharply over the Union Treaty’s wording during a closed session at a government villa outside Moscow. During a live, nationally televised news conference, the normally confi dent Gorbachev appeared nervous and hesitant as he tried to put the failure in a positive light. He said the decision to send the document to the legislatures without endorsement of the leaders represented a sort of “collective initialing” and predicted it would be signed “around Dec. 20.” The pact now will be debated by local legislatures, where it almost certainly will face further revision, delay and potential opposition. Origi nal plans called for republic leaders to sign it, then have the legislatures ratify it. “The country and society are in such a state that the process should move ahead, as reforms will not w ork, nor the economic treaty, nor anything | else, unless we untangle this main } knot of statehood,” Gorbachev said. He also failed to win endorsement before a critical referendum on inde pendence Sunday in the Ukraine, the strongest of the five Soviet republics that refused to attend Monday’s ses sion. The Ukraine has balked at sign ing the treaty although it has agreed to join in an economic grouping with eight other republics. Russia, the largest republic, is the most important participant in the new union, but the Ukraine’s absence would severely weaken the confederation. The Ukraine is an agricultural and industrial power, and Gorbachev has said a union without it is “unthink able.” Several changes are to be made in the Union Treaty before it is sent to the legislatures, Gorbachev said. He did not spell out the revisions. The treaty would limit the Krem lin’s role to foreign affairs, strategic nuclear arms and coordination of economic policy. It also would estab lish a five-year, directly elected na tional presidency and an independent judiciary and would let the republics introduce their own currencies. . ■ .. —-—i State Department says U.S. can increase condom use WASHINGTON — America’s AIDS fight could benefit from les sons learned in developing countries where condoms are vigorously pro moted, with U.S. help, on television and in drug stores, the State Depart ment says. Dr. Jeff Harris, director of the AIDS program for the U.S. Agency for Inter national Development, said that modem marketing techniques based on research about target populations has increased condom use substan tially in countries where the hetero sexual spread of AIDS poses a serious threat. The lesson for the United States, he said, is “that we can increase con dom use” with programs based on a thorough understanding of what would motivate sexually active adults to use condoms and practice “safe sex.” AIDS, or acquired immune defl ciency syndrome, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. It is spread principally through sexual activity or the sharing of con taminated drug injection needles. Latex condoms have proved ef fective in decreasing the spread of AIDS through sexual intercourse. Harris said efforts should be made m the United Slates to “portray con doms positively” and to work at a community or neighborhood level to promote their use. He said research on sexual prac tices and attitudes “is essential” to accomplish these goals. Harris de clined to comment about the admini stration's consistent opposition to such research within the United States. The National Institutes of Health have recommended that the federal government sponsor research among sexually active adults to learn how best to promote changes in sexual behavior and safe sex practices such as the use of condoms. Such research proposals have been turned down in the face of opposition from the White House and from some members of Congress. Harris said that USAID programs have promoted both sexual abstinence and safe sex practices. Abstinence, he admits, has not been a widely ac cepted message and leaders of some countries recognize this. “In Uganda, the president and first lady say they would like a return to traditional values (of no sexual prom iscuity) but they also recognize that condoms have a role,” he said. Con doms are widely promoted now in Uganda with advertising and grass roots distribution programs. Television ads, based on market research, have suc9essfully promoted condom use in such areas as Turkey, Ecuador, the Caribbean and south central Africa. In other areas, con doms are promoted with store posters and even bus-stop billboards. Harris said that in each country, the program has to be based on a key concept that makes condoms accept able. In Mexico, he said, prostitutes were not insisting on condom use until a survey found that most of them were mothers. The campaign shifted to encourage condom use to protect the children and was successful. X A condom program in the Domini can Republic faltered until research showed that people didn’t know how to use the devices. Condoms became more accepted after a comic strip brochure was printed and counselors began explaining how to use con doms in person-to-person interviews. Netfra&kan Editor Jana Pedersen 472- 1766 Managing Editor Diane Bravton Assoc. News Editors Stacey McKenzie Kara Wells Opinion Page Editor & Wire Editor Eric Planner Copy Desk Editor Paul Domeler Sports Editor Nick Hytrek Assistant Sports Editor Chuck Green Publications Board Chairman Bill Vobe|da 476-2855 Prolessional Adviser Don Walton 473- 7301 FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Dally Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE. Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Dally Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5 pm. Monday through Friday. 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